


sparks fly; i hit the ground running

by LugianBeforeSwine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: College AU, M/M, allura is in it for like 5 seconds, these two are such nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8206087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LugianBeforeSwine/pseuds/LugianBeforeSwine
Summary: Keith sat outside on a half-broken lawn chair and did some pretty incredible people-watching. There was a drunk guy desperately trying to ride his longboard across the grass, a group of girls lying down with their feet propped up on a passed-out guy on the ground, and a kid who had apparently pulled four hot dogs out of his shorts pocket and was now furiously consuming them.

Keith reforms his ideas on frat boys. Kind of. A little. One frat boy in particular.





	

Keith did not like frat boys. They were loud, they were messy, and most of them tended to be assholes, which is why Keith was so displeased about being in a frat house on a Friday night. Allura had dragged him there against his will, claiming that he needed to get out of his apartment for once and that he would surely have a great time at a frat party if he just gave it a chance. Allura was very intelligent and often right about a lot of things, but Keith’s level of enjoyment of the frat party was not one of them. The one upside was that there were three kegs in the backyard and a seemingly unlimited supply of plastic cups.

Keith sat outside on a half-broken lawn chair and did some pretty incredible people-watching. There was a drunk guy desperately trying to ride his longboard across the grass, a group of girls lying down with their feet propped up on a passed-out guy on the ground, and a kid who had apparently pulled four hot dogs out of his shorts pocket and was now furiously consuming them. Keith took a sip of his beer. The noise and commotion was actually pretty bearable when it was happening outside, and when it didn’t involve him. Maybe frat parties weren’t actually all that terrible. They certainly weren’t nearly as fun as Allura had made them out to be, but—

“Hey, babe. You look bored.”

Oh no. _Oh no._ Was someone talking to him? Keith slowly looked up and gazed at the guy who had seemed to suddenly materialize next to his chair. He was tall and muscular, but not in a way that was overbearing. He had dark skin and piercing blue eyes and suddenly Keith was sweating. _Fuck._ At last he noticed the t-shirt that the guy was wearing, which bore the Greek letters of the frat whose beer he was currently consuming. Keith let out a sigh of relief. If this guy belonged to a frat, he was clearly not Keith’s type, regardless of how attractive he was.

And he was very, very attractive.

“Can I help you?” Keith asked coolly.

“Actually, yeah,” Attractive Frat Boy said, grinning. “I seem to have lost something, and I have reason to believe you might have it.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Attractive Frat Boy leaned in closer and smirked at him. “The key to my heart, of course.”

What. The. Fuck. Keith’s fist clenched of its own accord, and his plastic cup crumpled as a tiny fountain of beer exploded from it.

“Woah, okay,” Attractive Frat Boy said, taking a step back. “No need for that kind of reaction. Let’s try this again. My name’s Lance. What’s yours?”

Keith’s face was on fire. That stupid-ass pickup line had kind of worked, and he was infuriated with himself for succumbing to it. Around him, the party continued to rage; someone was now repeatedly flying a remote-controlled helicopter into the branches of a nearby tree while onlookers cheered. Keith took a deep breath and stood up from his dilapidated lawn chair. Attractive Frat Boy—Lance—was a couple inches taller than him, and Keith quickly lied to himself regarding his feelings on that particular subject. “Keith,” he said finally.

Lance’s smile grew. “So, Keith,” he began, “what are you doing out here by yourself?”

“My friend dragged me to this party and then promptly abandoned me.” He quickly scanned the yard, looking for Allura and not seeing her. She was probably inside the house. He hoped she wasn’t getting hit on by hordes of disgusting frat boys, but then again, she could totally take them in a fight if she was.

“Lame! I dunno how anyone could possibly abandon you,” Lance said, his smile turning coy. “After all—”

“Yeah, well,” Keith interrupted loudly, thinking that he probably couldn’t handle hearing the end of that sentence, “she’s very independent. And outgoing. And social.” He went to take a sip of his beer and was saddened to find that his cup was empty. He threw it on the lawn to join its brethren.

“Could she possibly be the very buff girl with the silver hair who is currently arm-wrestling everyone in sight?”

Keith let out a startled laugh. “Yeah, that’s her.”

There was a brief pause in the conversation, during which Keith thought that maybe this Lance dude wasn’t actually so bad. Especially when he bit his lip and shifted his eyes to the ground. God, Keith needed more beer. Would it be inappropriate to make a quick trip to the nearest keg right now?

“So,” Lance said abruptly, directing his eyes back to Keith’s face. “What’s your major?”

Keith was thrown for a second. “Uhh,” he began, “mechanical engineering?” Why did that come out sounding like a question? “What about you?”

Lance’s eyes lit up. “Biochem. So you’re a science nerd like me, huh?”

Keith couldn’t help it—he smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.” Before his brain could catch up to his mouth, he added, “That’s pretty impressive. I always assumed that all frat boys majored in, like, ultimate frisbee or douchebaggery or—” His mouth finally snapped shut. A fleeting thought that that might have been very offensive crossed his mind, but before he could dwell on it any further, Lance interrupted his thoughts with raucous laughter.

“Oh my god,” Lance stuttered out between peals of laughter, clutching his stomach, “you’re a nerd and you’re hilarious.” Was Keith imagining it, or was that a tear rolling down Lance’s cheek?

“I’m—” Keith started, then cut himself off, totally unsure of what he was about to say. He stood there, arms crossed, feeling mildly embarrassed, until Lance calmed down from his laughing fit.

Lance was beaming when he directed his gaze back to Keith. “Ordinarily, of course, you’d be correct,” he began, trying and failing to stifle one last snicker, “but this is a chemistry frat. Obviously we still have the house, but I’d like to think we’re a little bit more sophisticated than average.”

Keith was still at a loss. This attractive, intelligent guy was actually having a conversation with him and laughing at his jokes and he wasn’t a _real frat boy_ , per se, more of just a dude that happened to live in a big house with a bunch of other _not real frat boys_ , and—

“Keith? You okay, buddy?”

Woah, when had Lance’s face gotten so much closer to his? “Oh, yeah, I’m fine, I just—” _am very much attracted to you? would really like to kiss you right now? drank a little too much beer, perhaps?_ “I’m just tired.”

“Oh.” Lance’s expression fell a little, and Keith immediately felt bad about it. “Do you wanna go inside? The third floor should be pretty quiet. My room’s up there.” He stopped immediately, face turning red, arms up in a gesture of innocence. “I didn’t mean—I mean, like, if you wanted a quiet place to sleep—I would leave, obviously! Or, I mean, if you wanna go home, of course that’s fine too, who am I to tell you what to do—”

That was the last straw. Keith was officially endeared. He smiled at Lance’s distraught expression. “Yeah, let’s go inside,” he said, and Lance was visibly relieved.

“Okay. Okay, good.” He reached for Keith’s hand, regaining some of his bravado as he smirked at him. “Wouldn’t want you getting lost,” he said, and Keith allowed him to link their fingers together, his own face turning pink.

They endured only one catcall on their way upstairs, which they both ignored, and Keith caught sight of Allura, currently locked in an arm-wrestling match with a guy who clearly stood no chance against her. The slap of his arm against the table mere seconds later was audible even over the pounding music.

“So, umm,” Lance said as they reached the relative quiet of the third floor, stopping outside a door with what appeared to be a stolen street sign duct-taped to it, “this is it.” He reached out a slightly shaky hand and turned the doorknob, then flipped the light switch right next to the door.

Keith’s mouth fell open. “What.”

“What?” Lance asked, looking thoroughly confused.

Keith took a few steps inside, pulling Lance in with him. A shelf wrapped around three of the four walls, and taking up every inch of space on the shelf was a massive collection of model robots.

“You,” Keith started, body shaking with silent laughter. He used his free hand to gesture around the room. “You are—” And then he lost it, laughing so loudly that Lance jumped. Keith tried to recover himself and failed miserably, dissolving into hysterical laughter.

Lance wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not, but he tried to play it cool, forcing himself to smile and asking, “Are you making fun of me? Because I’ll have you know, some of these models are worth upwards of—”

“God, no,” Keith managed, meeting Lance’s eyes, still quietly snickering, “you’re so cute.” His mind backtracked for a moment, and he quickly looked away, no longer laughing. “Sorry. That was—that was supposed to be a compliment but I realize that—uhh—” His gaze flicked back to Lance’s face. Lance was grinning. Why was he—

“Thanks,” he said softly, ducking his head and reaching for Keith’s other hand. “I’m sure this is obvious to you, but I think you’re cute too.” He squeezed Keith’s hands in his and then let go, turning toward the open door with a flourish that was clearly meant to cover up his embarrassment. “Well, if you need anything, I’ll be in the living room downstairs—”

“Lance,” Keith said, smiling crookedly, his cheeks flushed pink, “you can stay.”

“Oh thank god,” Lance breathed, turning back into the room and locking the door behind him before they both burst out laughing again.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from 'hey driver' by lucky boys confusion (a classic)  
> please talk to me about these two dorks at deadpan-snarker.tumblr.com


End file.
